Can someone please explain the strategy to me?
I’ve seen apartments listed on realestate.com when my ‘house’ filter is firmly ‘on’ multiple times. Once would be misfortunate, several times looks likes carelessness.
Do REA think that people looking at houses will suddenly be inspired by an apartment? That seems a very high risk approach, but maybe I’m missing something.
This post is inspired by a different user who ruled out buying anything with a strata scheme but also did not really understand strata. I want to be clear, I don’t care where people buy or what their requirements are, but I don’t like dogma.
(There is a seperate discussion that surrounds purchasing for capital gains. I’m going to set that aside for now and assume that when a buyer is looking to buy, it’s a home to live in for decades. I will use ‘house’ to mean a house, ‘stratum’ to mean an apartment/unit/villa that is governed by a strata scheme and ‘home’ to mean dwelling of any sort where people have secure housing.)
Key complaints around strata appear to be
1. I don’t want to be told what to do in my own home.
2. They can blow out financially and can be money pits.
3. Yuck, neighbours.
A strata scheme is the product of the sub-division of a parcel of land, so that multiple stratum can gather together as ‘lots’. Strata are governed by state-based regulations. That is, strata legislation depends on your jurisdiction. This means that scary stories from interstate may not be relevant to your context. Strata laws are enforced by specialist tribunals (ie the courts), but ideally you’d handle disputes respectfully and directly.
1. I don’t want to be told what to do in my own home.
Okay, so if I live in a strata, does that mean I have an extra layer of rules that apply that would not if I was in a house? Yes. Usually these are set out in the strata by-laws that are basically a code of conduct for living in the strata. Rules regulate what will impact others. Things like smoking outside, pets, external washing lines and the colour you’re allowed to paint the outside of your home. You can paint the inside, hang paintings, hoard trinkets and do whatever you like with the inside, it’s the shared space (including aesthetics) that counts. They’re usually pretty sensible too. Things like dogs are fine, but incessantly barking dogs are not fine. Screen doors are fine, but they have to be white.
You also pool your money (‘strata fees’) to cover the cost of looking after the place. Fees cover insurance, the cost of managing amenities (pools, gyms, lifts), and usually a strata manager to administer the day-to-day. You don’t have to employer a strata manager and plenty of strata don’t. Once a year there is an Annual General Meeting (an ‘AGM’) when everyone meets up and decides what to do over the next twelve months. A key feature of the AGM is the budget, which is when you all complain about how expensive everything is these days and vote on improvements. Things are expensive these days. A council of owners is elected (CoO) and they make minor decisions for the complex for the next twelve months, and basically act like the school P&C.
… If I buy a free-standing house I don’t have to deal with pesky rules, right? WRONG!! Of course you do. It’s just a different set of rules, regulated by the Council. You don’t get to live without bureaucracy because you own a house, the bureaucracy will find you and it will write you a polite little letter to tell you that you’re non-compliant.
2. They can blow out financially and be money pits.
Back to stratas. They can blow out financially, right? Right. There is always a risk that the gutters will need replacing or you need a new roof or the pool has a leak or some other drama. You raise money with a ‘special levy’ and pay for the works and it sucks. That would never happen in a house, right? WRONG. Houses need maintaining. Can houses blow out financially? YES. Do you get to share the costs? NO! What about council rates? They are usually cheaper in stratas! Do you have to save up for fun things like landscaping and pizza ovens? OF COURSE! In a strata scheme, that would usually be called the ‘reserve’ fund. This is also a genuine concern when buying dilapidated dumps. Asbestos, contaminated soils, old pipes, rotting beams, mould, gas fires are all found in old houses. Strata lots can cop big fees, but so can houses. How much can a renovation cost, right?!
3. Yuck, neighbours
Probably the most important one. The same way coworkers can make or break a job, your neighbours can make or break a strata. I actually strongly advocate for buying a stratum for people at risk of chronic loneliness. You don’t need to be besties with your neighbours, but we all need to feel on a soul level that we’re not alone. A good strata taps into this. Christmas parties, for example, are important. Of course, some stratas have neighbours from hell and that’s why strata rules are so very important. (No, you can’t smoke there Judith; I’ve told you a hundred times!). But if you are community minded and can gently remind people of The Rules while following The Rules yourself, you might discover that Judith was a jillaroo the ‘70s and she has a killer scotch collection.
Cool!
The purpose of this post isn’t to push everyone into a stratum. It would help with the housing crisis, but it’s not why I wrote it. I wrote this because I believe that people blindly fear stratas. Don’t.
(Edited for spelling & grammar)
My last job was in the WA public service in a renowned toxic department. My manager and I did not get on well at all. She was permanent, incompetent and a passive-aggressive bully. The director above her did nothing to intervene and turned a blind eye to some really awful behaviour, but she was more negligent than evil. When my contract ran out it wasn’t renewed. Fine then. After spending time in therapy and working through my own role in things with a professional, I’m back on the job hunt and I’m nervous about using either of them as references.
The public service has a very strong emphasis on using your prior manager as a reference. I categorically do not want to use my former line manager, I do not trust her at all. I could use my director, but I’m nervous she won’t be helpful. Going by her past behaviour, she _might_ give a bland and vague reference, or do nothing at all.
Has anyone dealt with this before? What would you suggest? I feel that with a great team I could really thrive in the public service but I’ve got a crappy hand of cards and I don’t know how to move forward. I’m also very anxious after my last experience and I’m very defensive when it comes to questions around teamwork. Please help.
We are narrowing down on suburbs we like and one area that keeps coming up because of commute/school zones was developed in the 1970s and early ‘80s. I am struggling to get excited by some of the houses, but it’s hard to tell if it’s just because they’re old and dirty or if I’m missing the point. I thought it would be helpful to look online at some interstate examples.
I‘m not ruling our minor renovations, but I’d prefer practical ideas for what to look for when buying a fifty-year-old house. I’ve looked at The Design Files and Pinterest and while I don’t mind a bit of inspo, we won’t have much of a budget to renovate so I’d prefer to just snoop at what is out there to see the potential.